Titanic Development
by Opono
Summary: In the Scouting Legion, affection for one other is a big, big taboo. Even showing a hint of concern or shedding tears for their comrades, were considered 'weak control on the emotions'. Hanji Zoe, the person you'd least expect to even have a hormonal bone in her body, actually doesn't need much effort to break that golden rule...
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: If I had owned Shingeki no Kyojin, I would have ran the plot in haphazard directions, until you guys would give up on the series entirely.

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Hanji Zoe, a 103rd Trainees Squad graduate, has never had a death wish before.

Even when her parents were dead - no, they were not killed by Titans, luckily - she didn't feel the need to commit suicide or live like a walking zombie for the rest of her life.

But right now, with her 3DMG torn apart, the contents all strewn before her, the despair and utterly horrification of the situation compelled her to do something. Anything, to avoid getting killed.

By this 15-meter titan, leering at her as if she were fresh meat. Yeah, all humans were fresh meat anyways, when it came to a titan's favorite food and pastime.

She had no idea how her 3DMG came to be like this; all she knew was that it cushioned her impact when she collided with that thick, hard tree trunk. The tree barely shook; but maybe she dislodged a leaf or two. The 3DMG gave way under the impact of her weight. She landed on the grass with a hard thump, permanently bruising her backside. The titan had been staring at her long enough for Hanji to know that it was targeting her, and her only. Everyone else in the trainees' squad were long digested or maimed into unrecognizable chunks.

Hanji Zoe was at the prime of her youth: barely passing her sweet sixteen birthday - as if birthdays existed in humanity now; before the fall of Wall Maria, birthdays were still considered important, but for the scouts in the Scouting Legion, everybody's targets were the titans. Always the titans. Killing them, slicing the nape of their neck, bloodying the hilt of their steel swords and splattering their uniforms with slippery red gunk.

Now, the titan towered over her effortlessly. It had a relatively well-proportioned body, for an average class titan. Not that protruded and round of a belly. Humanoid features, with a tad longer stick of a nose. It looked like Pinocchio. The fleshy meat of its palm extended outwards, toward her, and she could feel the abnormally high heat engulfing her in a broken moment. Its grip was laxer than she expected, but perhaps the titan was merely biding its time. To devour her.

She had been a rookie then. Full of hate and contempt for the titans, of which had gobbled down never-ending human bodies, all too helpless to resist their impossible strength. As she looked up at the titan's wide red mouth in a hazy daze, she could smell the strong salty scent of her comrades' dried blood. It repulsed her, but she couldn't very well vomit now. She felt too weak to even disgorge.

Her life clock was about to stop ticking. She'll see her parents in heaven, if she were lucky.

Something hit her face. Wet and salty. She reopened her eyes. Blood on her face. Even on her mouth. She swiped it away with disgust.

Then she was falling. Much like falling down after she hit the tree trunk not too long ago. The wind rushed up in a hurry to welcome her. But the titan's hand, fingers still wrapped loosely around her waist and bottom, met the ground first, and she was saved from further abuse on her poor backside.

Her sticky eyes crossed with cold, distant grey ones, above her, blades at the ready in two hands. And the figure was gone in a shimmer.

Knife strokes began to appear in criss-crosses around the titan's arms. The figure was a mismatched blur, flying around with the stretchable grapple hooks. More blood landed on the grass, staining the fresh green color into a dark crimson.

The curtains of the figure's outstanding performance swung shut, when the titan's entire head got sliced, clear off its thick neck. It rolled around the grass for a few moments, before coming to a full stop before Hanji.

In reflex, she leant away from the head, breathing through her mouth to prevent the stench and evaporating steam from entering her nostrils.

Something else landed beside her. Her savior, crunching the grass under his booted feet.

"What's the name?" Her mind squeezed out the question she'd been thinking about when she first clashed with this titan.

Despite the fact that she absolutely loathed titans - all humans do - she was irrevocably fascinated in them. Their anatomy, their superior regenerative abilities and their lack of intelligence, it all summed up for a worthwhile research destined to take her life's time to be finished.

The figure emerged in her line of vision. It indeed WAS a guy. Quite a short specimen. He was shorter than her about 10 cm, if she knew any better. But the reproach and chilliness in his gaze made up for his short stature. Hanji found herself shrinking away from his hostile gaze. She would proudly say that she was quite easy to be around people, but this guy was of a completely different circumstance from anyone ordinary.

"Levi." Even though he was short, his voice was unusually deep and gravelly, somewhat carrying an abrasive quality. The coldness in his gaze seemed to increase tenfold, as if he felt affronted by her sudden inquiry.

"Levi?" Hanji ransacked her brain for this name. This name didn't even sound like a titan classification name at all. "That's not what I meant. What is the name of this titan class type?" She carefully rephrased her question. She didn't want the guy's eyes - Levi, he said. Maybe it was his name - to grow nastier than it already was. Instinct warned her to tread slowly in this conversation, although she couldn't tell why. It wasn't like this human male would kill her without any reason.

He was... surprised. There was no other adjective to describe it. "I think this bastard is a Deviant-Class type." He gave a contemptuous glance to the fallen titan, his features clouding with agitation.

"I see. I can't believe you could-" She began to disengage herself from the titan's fingers, forcing her reluctant body to the titan's head. It suddenly seemed so far away, and her legs began to ache. The scratches on her uncovered arms - her uniform was long severed - under the hiss of the wind, opened up and the flaky skin started bleeding again. A low wince, and she crippled to the ground in an undignified heap. In the presence of someone. She would have rather the earth open up and swallow her in, than betraying her weakness before someone more powerful and apparently, skilful in massacring titans.

"You're injured." He was blunt and unconventionally good at embarrassing other people.

"I know, right? I feel so much in pain right now!" Hanji lightened up the situation, and hopefully also covered up her shame, by plastering a fake smile on her face. The guy, no, Levi lifted an eyebrow sardonically.

He let the seconds leak by, until the forest grew so quiet, that Hanji could hear her breathing echo around the space, filtering between the leaves, ruffling the grass, and sounding like a white noise in the background.

His own exhale of breath escaped from between the cracks of his even teeth. He was pissed at having to deal with a female casualty, that she could be sure of. Looking up past his eyes, concentrating on his shortly cropped black hair forlornly, she waited for his verdict.

He got to his knees behind her, the grass rustling and flattening beneath him, and placed his hands under her arms. She jerked a little at the sudden contact; not that she wasn't a really touchy-feely person. With unexpected ease, he lifted her up, placing her less injured arm over his shoulder gingerly, as one might handle a patient with hesitant care. Again, looks did deceive, since he bore her weight without much difficulty, and his shoulders were sturdy to be leant against.

"Everybody's already retreated, and I was the one assigned to 'finish up business', as they call it," His gaze turned steelier. "So you're considered lucky." He said as he took out the piston from the sheath and aimed at another tree trunk. But he paused.

"Where's your gear?"

Hanji blinked unceremoniously, for the question to cut through her fogged-up brain. It usually took a few minutes for her to reset the current situation, that she was still alive and able to keep fighting after this day.

"It got... crushed." She answered lamely.

Levi did not comment. The hooks shot out from the piston, and ingrained themselves deep within the tree trunk. Hanji thought she heard some mumbling coming from the shorty, somewhere along the lines of, "I hope it can sustain an extra burden..." The last word was uttered more quietly, but she would be an idiot if she didn't sense the annoyance riding underneath waves of concern for his precious 3DMG.

She flushed, her chagrin digging deeper into unexcavated territory.

The gas mechanism was activated, and Levi's arm tightened around her waist. He turned her around the side, and brought his other free arm under her knees. He crouched a little, adjusting his position, and kicked off, sending a cloud of dirt whirring in the silent air.

Good thing the reel didn't snap under the extra baggage (Hanji). The protesting screech was music to her ears, which were rapidly burning due to the alien sensation of a person's hands on untouched areas of her body. Levi didn't notice, thankfully. His gaze was concentrated ahead, not bothering to even check her condition. Hanji didn't know whether to be pissed, or grateful for him not seeing her reddening face.

Hanji Zoe, right at the time they finally reached Wall Sina, all tired and woozy, collapsed in a heap before a Stationary Guard. The lens of her spectacles splintered.

Lucid dreaming had never posed a threat in her getting enough sleep; but after this particular incident, her brain woefully refused to shut down in its peaceful state, and commenced tormenting her by conjuring up disturbing scenes, part of which were selected from the short timeframe of her childhood.

In the 100 years of eminent peace, she lived with her aunt in a dilapidated shack, far at the edge of Wall Maria. Food was scarce, meat a luxurious item they couldn't afford; but at least peace reigned over her sheltered life. Peace was what exactly grasped at her sanity, long after she was enlisted in the Scouting Legion. Well, the hope of stealing back peace from titans. And also the recovery of Wall Maria. These were her primitive driving forces. What kept her sane, while witnessing the brutal deaths of her fellow trainees.

After making The Decision, she moved to the dorms, meeting new people and gaining new knowledge of titans. Life was so much better there, compared to the dull scenery of her village.

Her aunt went berserk when she announced her enlisting into the Scouting Legion.

Chaos ensued from there, and it didn't end. Only when her aunt died during the fall of Wall Maria, Hanji began regretting secretly. She was too busy to preoccupy herself with the memories of her dead aunt, though she frequently shed a tear or two, if nobody's watching. The scouts, as a rule, never lost their composure and will to fight titans.

Enlisting in the Scouting Legion wasn't really a tricky step; it was the part where you nearly get eaten by a titan that's downright terrifying. Other trainees couldn't bear to enter this military division, so they stuck to the choice of being a Stationary Guard. Hanji Zoe had determination to put her through the intense training programs, so she graduated with a solid report, and was shaking hands with the Commander before she knew it. The near brush of deaths with titans had all but strengthen her resolve, and she had to thank luck for sparing her life on countless occasions.

Her aunt was asking her something. In the dream.

Why do you choose to enter the Scouting Legion?

Do you not care enough for me to stay by my side?

You didn't want to take over the farm?

You were ashamed of me?

It was an unbelievably surreal experience; aware of her existence in dreamland, and yet, feeling the hard mattress pressing against her back. Her soul was halved. At any given time, somebody could roll her over, pinch her, poke her, kick her, nudge her... and the delicate connection would be cut off. She'll be awake in the bed-hair, drool and homey scent of clean but worn bed sheets.

That was precisely what happened to her. She was slapped on the side of her face. Not hard, but the action was repeated over and over, probably to be continued until she awoken.

A gasp escaped her, and she stared up at a whitewashed ceiling. A clean one. No cobwebs, no dust.

The "good morning" from the person seemed forced. Familiar, too, and her mind replayed the events in the night before. Her fellow trainee Levi, rescuing her from the stomach of a Deviant-class titan. Gore and titan head rolling. Eyes closing.

And she was up. She reached behind to scratch at an itchy spot on her waist. The yawn couldn't be suppressed. "What time is it?" A walking whale talking, compiled with the fatigue hovering on her shoulders and eyelids.

"You're going to be late, if you keep dallying about. Our breakfast hour is at nine, and it's eight thirty now." The unhappy, clipped voice rang in her ears, and grew distant. Levi left the room, leaving the door ajar. The proud emblem of the Scouting Legion's crest flapped in Hanji's face, showing off the blue and white feathers, symbolizing freedom. Her eyes focused into its muddy vision, what with the absence of her spectacles. She fumbled for them on the bedside table, and jammed them on the bridge of her nose.

Before she could make sense of how Levi was up in this ungodly hour, she remembered his words, and scrambled out of the room in a panic.

This wasn't her room.

She dashed into a narrow hallway, and the chilly air ambushed her. Totally oblivious of the fact that she was clad in only her cotton undershirt and flimsy white breeches, she wrapped her arms around her chest, shivering.

"Where am I? Your place?!" The last word tilted upwards an octave. Shrill, like a rusty whistle. This place radiated hostility, much like the host himself. She had no decent attire to dress into, not to mention that her toiletries were to be found only in her own dorm! Her own stupid fault for collapsing at the gate of Wall Sina.

"Don't shout in my residence. Just get dressed. Your uniform is by the bedside table, and you'll deal with your own washing up later, not over here." Levi poked his black head out from another room, the picture of impatience. His hair was combed neatly, lying flat on his head, and he was fully clothed for another bracing day of a second excursion in the dense forest of Wall Maria. Heck, the neckcloth he wore was also impeccably tucked into his undershirt, showing no creases. The 3DMG was in his arms. He was ready to be saddled up in his gear, until she interrupted him. She murmured an apology, and darted off to the room.

Her uniform felt soft and smelled of lemons. He'd washed it for her.

"Pompous clean freak with a stick shoved up his ass." Hanji Zoe muttered, but not after checking her surroundings for a pair of prying ears. She shrugged into her attire, an onslaught of gratitude washing over her.

He'd saved her, brought her to his residence and washed her clothes. He'd make a hell of an attentive parent, for all she knew.

If he wasn't explicitly rude in that standoffish way, she would have forgave him easily for the hole in her scarf. It might have been caused when the hook got caught in the woolen material, when Levi wanted to retract the grapple hook back into the piston.

…

Needless to say, both of them did not get out of Levi's residence together. Hanji ran out first, since she felt pressured to even be in his presence. Levi took his sweet time striding out towards the field, where they were to meet in ten minutes' time. Envy coiled her abdomen and knitted her eyebrows. He clearly had special treatment. He needn't eat at the dining hall - where a meatball dropping on your white shirt was of the norm - and could afford to cook in his own dorm. He had to be an outstanding trainee, for the higher-ups to notice him and offer him a bigger, furnished dorm. Keith was a big fan of favoritism, Hanji now noted with bemusement.

The hall was nearly empty. She hastily scarfed down a stale lump of bread, drowning herself in scalding coffee, and jog to the field.

The bread was hard to swallow, and the coffee was bitter.

Her eyes grew moist. She blinked them away fiercely; crying was the ultimate taboo of a Scouting Legion soldier. You couldn't very well shed tears for a dying comrade with a still-hungry titan looming over you, right?

It's just that... she was so, so lonely.

Biting her tongue to distract herself, Hanji joined the military line. Everyone else were immersed with the unforeseen appearance of the Commander, the Almighty, the Deity of the Scouting Legion. He was about to make a speech. Daily announcements were made at every morning meeting, but never had the Commander went out of his way to announce anything. Today was an exceptional day. Blue sky, white clouds and blinding sunlight. The scenery would escape her mind later on, as she would be dealing with titans later; so Hanji let herself relax for the moment, absorbing the fresh air and breathing slowly.

"You guys might be wondering at my sudden arrival." The Commander chuckled. The trainees shifted nervously on their heels. Deity never cracked jokes. "Nevertheless, I would like to make a special announcement," He stopped here, surveying their expressions. He must be pleased, because a smile was stretched across his face.

"For those of you who can kill at least 25 titans during today's mission outside eastern Wall Maria, you'll be awarded with something... say, extraordinary." The Commander's booming smile was amplified in every corner of the field. His thick lips moved up and down provocatively, and Hanji imagined she could see his tongue swirling appreciatively at the mention of a reward.

"The sergeants will arrange you fresh meat-" He laughed a little at his own joke. It would have earned boos from the listening crowd, had he not been the Commander of the Scouting Legion. The trainees looked as if they were trying to not wince. "-into equal teams of seven people. The total amount of kills would have to reach 25 or above, in order to receive your award. I can say it's quite a straightforward system, really, in the Scouting Legion. I'll leave you guys to think about the reward, and whether if you deserve it." Drumming his fingers against the wood panel of the podium, the Commander gave a slight bow, and exited the stage. He was quickly joined by several other older soldiers, most of whom ushered him away, expressions full of distaste and disinterest.

The trainees, excluding Hanji, stood ramrod straight, wondering if they should applaud for the Commander's 'innovative and supremely motivating' speech.

Hanji blanched, at the thought of being assigned into groups, with strangers. Most of her friends from the graduate classes had either entered the Military Police or the Stationary Guard. Either... or, not or... or. She couldn't understand how and why they could be scared of titans, when they've been training for three years non-stop, learning to kill titans with a single incision deep at the nape of their necks. She bit her thumb thoughtfully, drawing blood.

"Oi. You there." A sergeant materialized before her. Hanji hid her thumb away. "Take this number, and find someone else who has the same number." He handed her a slip of paper, with a curvy '8' scribbled on the yellowed parchment. The sergeant hurried off to prey on the next trainee.

Millions of questions lingered on the tip of her tongue, but as the sergeant brushed past her, she was unable to speak. She gulped, and craned her neck, overlooking the field of greenery, seeing handfuls of trainees milling about. The blood of her thumb stained the paper, until the '8' became nearly unrecognisable, dotted with red splotches.

She urged her feet to go forward. In about five minutes, all the teams were to be ready on their horses, and wait at the gate of Wall Sina. Although the total number of trainees didn't extend beyond fifty, confronting other strange characters was quite a bit daunting.

What's more daunting is finding the remnants of your body stuck between the gaps of a titan's teeth, so suck it up and go find someone! Her mind screamed in frustration. Her feet shuffled forwards unwillingly. There was no use. She might as well have cut class and return back to the safe alcove of her village. She wasn't cut out for socializing and cooperating with others, after all-

"Disgusting." The metal rings in his knee-length boots clicked together curtly. "What a twisted countenance you've got there. Are you so offended by the idea of teaming up with me?"

She felt like dropping on her bottom, and release a loud shriek. Nevertheless, she squeezed out a sour smile. "Number eight?"

He nodded, peeved. "What else?"

"You only found me? Only the two of us?" She took back the thought of finding a titan's mouth/belly daunting. Working with Levi was a frightening task that she wasn't confident enough to carry out.

He snorted, and his defensive posture - arms firmly fastened around his midriff - became completely guarded, like his real emotions were sealed off without a trace of leakage. "I think they'll find us eventually." His eyes deserted hers, and he tipped his head back to appraise the sky. Hanji pondered about the depth of his constant irritation directed towards her. It seemed as though he couldn't even look in her eye properly, without scowling. His face would have taken a better turn, if he behaved more openly, Hanji observed. The only flaw of his looks was only his height; Hanji Zoe was a female, and so was acquainted with the oddball tastes of girls who sought for love interests. The cynical glint in his eyes surreptitiously hid the intelligence and vigilance that promised a good rank within the Scouting Legion; finely arched eyebrows, a smooth forehead, and a ski-jump-hill of a nose. His skin was not dark in the least; the shade wavered between a rosy and a pallid complexion. Ebony hair was decidedly rare for humans now; if you had ebony hair, people could mistake you for an Asian, a rapidly dying-out race of humans. His features and skin color depicted nothing of that sort, though. Grey went well with black, anyway. As for his physique, Hanji had not yet found anything out of the ordinary.

But hey, she was actually taller than him. Extreme height differences were a huge minus, in her case.

"Ah, I think I see them now." Thanks to her five feet six stature, she could peer over the heads of trainees, and anticipate a herd of unfriendly teens bustling towards them at ten o'clock.

Levi followed her gaze, and his frown lit up his entire face.

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A/N: Oh, please drop a review or two. I like feedback. No flamers, please.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Do I really have to do this each chapter? *sigh* Shingeki no Kyojin is not my creation. I would kill to serialize an awesome manga series of that caliber.

So sorry for the late, almost one-month update.

Oh, and if you can, please read the Author's Note at the end of the chapter.

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"Don't they look friendly?" The frown had not disappeared. The tone he was using in that statement implied anything other than 'friendly', clearly. Hanji shifted, uneasy with the new crowd, and also with him.

As stated before, she did not cooperate well with Levi. Her savior seemed to have made a secret decision to stay far away from her, as well. That was expected; her abilities, at best, were on the average line. Keith's detailed account of her results, given to her during the graduation - she flinched at the horrible reminder. The person coming in first at top ten was this frowning, short guy; one superior in both 3DMG-wielding prowess and his promptness in earning the appreciation of other scouts. Keith was the instructor who recommended Levi to the Scouting Legion. To Hanji's surprise, the guy had acquiesced to the veteran's idea.

Oh well, the Scouting Legion, on a positive note, had earned themselves a prodigy. The matter of Levi can hardly be overlooked.

Hanji chased these depressing thoughts away, and schooled her face into a friendly mask. There were more people to meet. Perhaps they were stronger than her. She had to be vigilant enough to get herself on their good sides. Rivalries between scouts were of the norm, but personally, Hanji preferred to keep a low profile.

Deep breaths. In. Out.

"Hey, it's not like you're being sentenced to the guillotine. Like I said, don't make that face. It'll scare people off." The prodigy said briskly.

"I'm not sociable, you know." Hanji gritted out through clenched jaws. "I'm not a people's person, unlike you." All traces of her gratitude for him evaporated.

"Me? I hate socializing. I don't rely on anyone else except myself."

To make friends, she chanted in her mind.

To make friends. For the sake of friends.

She smiled. The action taxed her face muscles incredibly. "My bad. I'm just feeling edgy today."

He stared, dumbfounded. "...That's okay." He turned away abruptly, facing towards them.

One more person fooled by her smile. A good sign. That meant she could be on amiable terms with her new comrades in no time.

Hesitantly, she swiveled on her heels.

There were two girls and three guys. All of whom were looking away from each other. Although the atmosphere was a bit tense, they seemed okay, on the exterior. Blondes and brunettes and redheads: a very harmonious mix in team eight. The tallest guy in the group was blonde, and when he met Hanji's glance, reached up a long arm in greeting. Tentatively, she waved back. It was the right thing to do.

"I'll give you a warning." Levi piped up again. He's certainly feeling talkative today, Hanji observed.

"Do not trust any of them."

Sadly, his warning was unnecessary. Hanji knew that already.

Trust was gained, not given on a foolish whim. You make guesses about your group's characters, stay by the sidelines and observe, and wait. A whole part about earning trust was the wait. The longer you waited, the more accurate your guesses would be. Pretty soon, you can start judging them based on their characteristics, and then comes the pivotal moment.

You have to rely on them, and see, if they were brave enough to save you. Plenty of cowards shun away from their duties, abandoning their teammates in a titan's grasp. That was the ultimate reason of having teammates, was it not? You save them, they return the favor. It was all about borrowing and returning.

Cooperation was compulsory. Hanji just wasn't sure if she could accept her new comrades.

"I see. Thanks." She replied courteously.

…

Fast forward to Mission Start

"So there's seven people in total. Tall Guy is Bart, Redhead Female is Olivia, and Redhead Male is Finch. Both of the redheads are twins. Blondie is Louise. Freckled Guy is Julius..." Hanji muttered to herself, counting on fingers just to be sure. She was a sucker at remembering names.

Not that it was a necessity. It would be quite awkward if you forgot.

"Hi Hanji! Whatcha doin'?" Blondie, or Louise, was energetic and extremely touchy feely. She wrapped her arms around Hanji's neck enthusiastically, her glom on the taller girl tight and much too secure to be wiggled out of.

"Remembering your names." Hanji answered truthfully. Was it her, or did it just get a little hard to breathe?

"Ah... you know me, don't you? In case you've forgotten, my name is Louise! I think surnames muddle you up more, so I'll keep that a secret for now." Louise nuzzled Hanji's hair affectionately. Hanji fought back the urge to shake the smaller girl off. Too close.

"Thank you." It seemed that nowadays, she's always saying 'thank you'.

"Ne, Hanji, can I trust you?" Louise's face took a serious turn. She released Hanji, placing her hands, instead, on the taller girl's shoulders. Hanji knew better than to shrug those small, dainty fingers off.

"In missions, when I'm knee-deep in trouble, can you turn around and help me?" Louise's eyes burned.

Hanji couldn't say no, at that time. Perhaps it was due to the seriousness of the situation, or the way Louise stared her down, as if the amber orbs were transmitting 'say yes, say yes, say yes' into her mind repeatedly. She didn't have the heart to refuse. But she didn't make any real promises, either. A shallow dip of her head was the reply.

"Great! I now entrust you with my life!" Louise's hug was too tight to be true.

She left Hanji to her musings, and skipped off to locate her horse.

Hanji shrugged, returning to tend to her own animal. She wondered what she'd gotten herself into, by answering to Louise's question. Was it a blessing, to have someone watch out for you, even though she was a stranger?

Or was it a bad omen, designated to tie you by the post, the noose too firm to be loosened? She might be putting herself in harm's way, and it was too late to undo things now. Team eight had a mission to attend to. It was the worst time to let doubts consume herself.

She wished that there was a titan here, so that she could shove her blades up its ass. That would be a good vent for her rundown emotions.

A shrill whistle pierced through the air, reminding the trainees of the time. Hanji hurriedly swung herself over her stallion.

…

The forest was teeming with healthy green leaves, birds, animals and insects. The mosquitoes were certainly having the time of their lives, hovering above the scouts' necks, feeding on them.

Hanji swatted one away, growing annoyed. First, there were the shrubs, hanging low from the tree branches. They slapped her face repeatedly as her horse galloped forwards. She knew there would be scars lining up her cheeks, nose and forehead, if she kept at this speed. Slowing down was not an option, however. The veterans had long left the trainees behind, taking their places behind the Commander's flashy white steed. Hanji was already twelve paces behind, and it won't do if she let curtains of scratchy leaves be a hindrance.

Hanji blamed this recurring incident on her height.

Girls were better off at five feet three or four. No more, no less. That was what Hanji thought.

At least somebody doesn't have to have a splitting headache and a cluster of wounds to deal with later.

Levi was riding diagonal from Hanji, at the right side. The stream of shrubbery barely brushed the top of his hair. His dull grey eyes stared dead ahead, ignoring everyone else. She noticed most of the trainees riding alongside him had put up a wide berth around the trainee, just to... avoid him?

Despite his cold and forbidding demeanor, she pitied him.

Prodigies were usually solitary individuals, then.

And... Was it her, or did the curtain of foliage just get denser?

With an audible grunt, Hanji urged her horse to the opposite direction, narrowly missing a protruding branch sweeping her way. A trainee cursed in Hanji's wake, who had nearly crashed into his horse. He boosted his speed, and on a stroke of mere convenience with a dash of malice, elbowed her sharply. Her horse jerked in surprise, inclining more to the right.

"What's your problem, bitch?!" He hollered, throwing her another disgusted look. Without further ado, the male had long stirred up a cloud of dust in his hasty escapade, blatantly disregarding Hanji's own colorful assortment of obscenities hurled after him.

Giving up, she muttered, "Dick." as a last resort.

A menacing, cold presence beside her made Hanji stop short.

Levi did not say anything, but she could feel the incinerating lasers of his eyes inspecting her. Figuring out why she made such a ruckus, perhaps.

Trying to shake off the sinking feeling she felt, Hanji let the second smile in one day - directed to Levi, that is - grace her face. In her mind, she was cringing from the tremendous effort.

How sore her face muscles felt. She couldn't possibly do this more than twice a day. She had never been a deceitful person, but her clumsily fabricated smile spelled nothing out aside from insincerity and pretence.

Silently, she was asking Levi something, through that fake smile.

_Why the heck are you being so moody?_

Honestly, his bad mood rubbed off on people like nobody's business. Compared to the mosquitoes that were sucking the blood out of her - also leeching away some of her willingness to smile, his hollow expression was a plague in its own class.

"That guy was getting on my nerves," She blurted out. The sudden impulse to explain her actions was baffling.

He snapped out of his intense staring at her, reverting his gaze to his reins. "Humph."

The awkwardness that followed after the 'humph' was felt by both teens, down to the marrow of their bones.

Hanji cleared her throat, preparing to say something that will never come.

Levi flicked his reins in three-second intervals, nudging his horse. The animal released a frustrated neigh.

"Oi Hanji!" A cheerful shout made said person jump. Hanji craned her neck to the back in reflex, peering through the leaves stuck on the lens of her spectacles.

It was Louise. Her flushed complexion was flooded with anticipation when their eyes met. Giving an almost childish, triumphant cry, her horse dutifully increased its speed. In the corner of Hanji's eye, Levi faced the front, his back ramrod straight. He hadn't reacted to the girl's call.

And Louise, possibly ever happiest being the middleman, stationed her horse smack in the middle. Between Hanji and Levi. The intangible, strained atmosphere harbored no effect on her.

"Hanji, you were galloping flat-out, I couldn't catch up with you! What happened to our pinky swear?" Louise pouted indignantly.

Technically, they didn't do a pinky swear. Even if the truth was plastered definite in her mind, Hanji wished very hard for a hole to open up and swallow herself up. Including her horse.

The middleman (girl) turned to Levi, her bottom lip thrust out imperiously. "Promises should be kept, right, Levi?"

The shorty leaned away from Louise, not making any move to disguise the movement. Louise's eyes bubbled with comical tears, threatening to overflow.

"He's mean to me, Hanji!" She wailed, pointing.

Levi uttered an inscrutable word, looking pissed, and threw the two girls over his shoulder. He caught up to the veterans, his hair still neat and orderly in place.

_You deserved it. _

A second after the thought crystallized in her mind, regret overrode her senses. This nice, albeit meddlesome young girl named Louise had been willing to extend the hand of friendship to her, and she was feeling sullen over this particular trait of hers? Hanji met Louise's pleading gaze guiltily, mustering her courage.

"Yes, he IS mean." Hanji agreed, nodding vigorously. The ends of her ponytail poked into the skin at the back of her neck. "You know him?"

Louise bit her lip. Her eyes zoned out then, and her horse harrumphed, shaking its mane and dislodging the reins in her hands. Hanji grabbed them in alarm, waving her free hand in Louise's vision.

"He…" The young trainee – Hanji recollected that the girl was somewhere along the lines of fifteen or sixteen – shook her head, as if dispelling a notion, took a deep breath, "Is a pervert."

…

Current timeline

At that moment, Hanji recalled Louise's promise. The accursed 'pinky swear'. Steeling her eyes to Levi, the corporal staring down at his swirly black coffee, she tapped the table's edge with her feet, knowing it'll get his attention and that he was greatly annoyed by that habit.

He glanced up, sure enough.

"Hey Levi, let's be buddies, and watch out for each other's backs, alright?"

"No." Deadpan and firm. Providing no opening to cut across his answer.

"Eh? Why not?"

"I'll trust you with my life only when hell freezes over..."

"And that's never going to happen, is it?" Hanji had knew him for nothing less than a decade, and she could already piece together the pattern of his thinking, the reason for his saying so. 'When hell freezes over' was the understatement of the century.

"..." He retrieved his teaspoon, spooning square cubes of sugar into the bitter liquid.

"Oh come on! I'm a pretty capable squad leader around here too! Who else are you going to trust? Auruo? Mike? Irvin?" Hanji watched the symmetrical motion of his spinning teaspoon sleepily.

Over the years, he'd developed a special system in brewing coffee for himself. The only person he'd ever taught, and thoroughly mastered the art, was his subordinate/secretary-of-some-sort, Petra Ral. Levi once complained that Hanji's coffee was 'dingy and bland'. Occasionally, Hanji would wonder why he'd even drink her coffee in the first place, when Petra was up and bustling around like a bored hen during the drowsy, foggy mornings.

His beck and call. If only her comrade wasn't so obtuse in matters like love and relationships, he would have taken note of Petra's overloading kindness and patience as a direct advance to earn his appreciation. Again, that was another understatement.

Petra loved him. Loves him, present tense.

And then there was the buzzing rumor flying around... what was it again?

"Oh, oh." Hanji's eyes widened, behind the rims of her specs. The realization dawned on her, however ludicrous and crazy it seemed, there was a remote possibility... Corporal Levi can't be... Humanity's strongest soldier... what...

Things were supposedly considered abnormal around the Scouting Legion. Anything can happen. Hanji had long embraced that fact, ever since her trainee days, but this?

"It can't be... Eren Jaeger?!" She covered her hands over her mouth, pupils dilated, a flush scaling across her face and neck. Boys' love! What a scandal!

Before she knew it, Levi had her pinned against the wall - quite a remarkable feat; Hanji was taller, and yet he had the upper hand - features scrunched up in that familiar scowl of his. The dining hall was emptied out already, and they were the lone people left behind, with Levi enjoying his temporary moment of peace, while Hanji was struggling to navigate her way through the mountain of paperwork, accumulated in her days of absence. More missions equals more paperwork and reports to be filed. She had to be thankful that Levi was willing to lend a hand; but things were... bleak, at the moment, and he might change his mind.

The reason she even made the effort to move her paperwork downstairs into this noisy crowd of a dining hall was Nanaba's undoing. He'd persuaded her to venture out of the lab, for once, and finish her work, flanked with people on her left and right, revelling in their drunken stupor. It was 'better than holing yourself up in this stinky lab, Squad Leader Hanji'.

The drunks were gone, unable to humor her with their filthy jokes. Hanji had never actually been an avid fan of jokes that involved the human anatomy. The trainees had clearly made a mistake in judgment.

She was bored.

Boredom sometimes made her mind tune out. The paperwork lay on the table, dangerously close to the flickering candle. The mission was a failure. Commander Irvin had his eye on the Military Police at present, and the report she'd submitted had earned her naught but a dismissive nod. Hanji bit back the questions resurfacing, ducking out of the Commander's office.

Ah, paperwork. They were the eye bags and cavernous yawns of the scouts' worries, coming in place just behind the fear of being eaten by titans.

Titans were not here, however. Right now, boredom was reaching its most crucial point, and when Hanji spotted a chance to tease her only victim - a lethal one, she should add - she seized it.

Though... the end results did not completely leave her unscathed.

"Say that again, Hanji," Her long-time friend growled threateningly, his knuckles aimed at her abdomen. Even though Levi was not violent, at least not to her, the promising threat garnered a few chilly shivers racing up her spine.

"Ah, Levi! We still have a lot of work to catch up on! Let's put this dispute aside, and continue on, shall we?" She said brightly, the shivers forming an oxymoron with her fearless, vindictive personality. "Anyway, I was just kidding." She added, for good measure.

"But the attraction between you and Jaeger is so hot and heavy, everybody still notices, you know~" As soon as Hanji was released, her wrist burning slightly and her undershirt feeling damp and constricted from the excess of perspiration, she couldn't help herself. A soft laugh bubbled in her throat, but she held that in. No telling what Levi would do. Humanity's strongest soldier, the corporal, only to be KO'ed by a silly, borne-out-of-fruitless-chatter rumor. If you added a drunk Auruo, a phenomenally talkative Mike and a titan-obsessed Hanji, this was the result. Levi and Eren. LeRen.

No, she had to laugh.

And laugh Hanji did.

This time, Levi let her laughter, and the implied meaning behind it, roll off his back. He took his seat on the rickety wooden bench, crossing his arms and legs, sighing in resignation. The candle wavered. The papers rustled, caused by an invisible wind.

Seemed to Hanji, he wanted to wait her snorts and giggles out. That made her laugh harder, and her arms went around her stomach. She found it hard to breathe.

Soon enough, her mirth died out. The silence of the dining hall swooped in right then, settling heavily amidst the polished table surfaces, on Hanji's conscience.

"Can you give me a decent explanation as to why you would let such a nonsensical notion enter your mind?"

Hanji was Hanji, after all, but Levi couldn't exactly bring himself to accept that rumor. Lots of rumors circulated around whenever he was mentioned; but the discussion surrounding his sexuality was crossing the line.

He sat, weary but alert. Untouched paperwork. Flickering candle. Dim room. Insipid silence. Tense soldier. His eyes gave way for tired slits.

"Hm... Maybe partly because you spend waaaaayyy too much time with our darling Scouting Legion mascot." Hanji licked her lips appreciatively, savoring those thoughts that were trailing down a twisted path.

"I don't do it because I want to," Levi's cup tinkered. He lifted it to his lips, sipping slowly.

"Yeah, but how do I put this...? The young one is having his eye on you." Hanji winked playfully.

He scoffed. "He's claimed. By Ackerman."

"Mikasa Ackerman? Oh, she's the beauty and Prodigy 2.0, isn't she? She's his foster sister, isn't she? Would that count as an indirect manifestation of incest? Hang on, do I detect a hint of jealousy?"

"Go to hell, Hanji." Pause. "If you're really that addicted with gossip and whatnot, you can go about spreading rumors about my _asexuality_. Anyway, don't bring in personal matters into this conversation. I hardly think Ackerman would like you talking about her 'incestuous'-" Levi winced, "-form of showing care for her brother."

Obediently, Hanji shut up.

The clock on the mantel ticked by, minutes dragging longer than intended. She gave a careless glance at the offensive instrument, having half a mind to tear it down. That clock often reminded her of due dates for reports, or the hours for spontaneous meetings. Not that she hated the work - it was part of her job - but the tick-tock routine irked her, for some reason.

The long and short needle were perfectly aligned on the Roman numeral, 'XII'. Hanji had better get down to business. Levi looked half-asleep. His promise - she wouldn't call that a commitment promise, since she was the one who forced him into working, at the first place - had better not be an empty one.

She stalked over to his side, and jammed her fingers, albeit gently, into his temples. The stiffening of his body was apparent, as she made circular motions on the sensitive spots. Hanji was no fool; she could tell he was unused to physical contact, except for the occasional handshake offered by Generalissimo Zacklay, or a pat on the shoulder by Commander Irvin.

However, she knew she was the single person he would ever allow the privilege of touching him. Perhaps others would wave this off as a nonchalant habit of favoritism among his closest comrades... But things were different for Levi. Physical contact that included any form of touching, like intimate touching, was forbidden. He could make the initial move of doing something stopping short of concern for his teammates, but he rarely let them do the same for him. He gave, and took nothing in return. There was a common misunderstanding that occurred all too many times: that was Levi, up until this day, retained the reputation of a grouch stripped of its compassion and humanity.

Ah, they were WRONG.

Noticing the stiff posture had not yet relaxed under her fingertips, Hanji attempted a joke.

"Levi, you have not been touched by a woman before?" She had intended her tone to be teasing and light. What came out of her voice box was a scratchy wisp, a poor excuse for her previous coherent speech. Strange. Was there phlegm in her throat?

"Hmph." Corporal Levi, on the other hand, was unruffled. "I don't think you actually qualify as a woman at all, Hanji."

"Oi!" Hanji smacked his head. "Then what are you? A senseless, cold-blooded killing machine without a cock?! Heck, I'd give a leg to not let my femininity get in the way of my missions! You're lucky you're a man, Levi." She inclined her head to the side, thinking. "Scratch that. You're lucky you're a boy. Boys move faster, and their tempers flare up easily. That's you to a 'T'." She laughed again. Her fingers, unheeded by their insult/undermining exchange, continued their ministrations. Hanji was great at multitasking.

Levi took longer than usual to answer. The skin she grazed seemed warmer. Hanji looked down, and saw that his neck was bathed in a pink flush. His ears were colored to the roots, too.

She furrowed her eyebrows. Did she say something wrong? Her friend had no cause to be embarrassed.

Lately, their statements were either insulting or rude, leaning more to Levi's favor; or ending on an unpleasant note. The reasons were hard for her to fathom. All she could come up with was the growing distance between them. Levi was an active squad leader, with first-rate missions quickly entrusted into his capable hands; while Hanji was the stereotypical closet-scientist type, making new discoveries in the subject of titan science, working miracles with them... and having humanity's hopes pined on her firmly.

But had she changed? Had Levi changed? Come to think of it, this was the only occasion where they'd been alone together, for some weeks now. They should make full use of this time and talk about their work, or the Scouting Legion, or about titans. Though, did Levi even feel like talking now? All these thoughts about consideration were abusing her brain cells; Hanji preferred a more straightforward approach in handling someone like Levi. Or, talking to him, in this instance.

She had assumed that they were so well acquainted to the point that no harmful statement can really tear apart their light-hearted relationship.

Then again, that was what Hanji assumed to be. Levi, her polar opposite, might see things in a different light.

"You know what..." He encircled her wrists, detaching her attentive fingers from his still-aching temples. His hands were cold. "I think I can stay awake throughout the whole night. Come on. Let's start with the tallest pile."

Hanji bit her lip. There, he was pushing her away. Keeping her at arm's length, refusing her massages. An inexplicable distance, rendered unshrinkable.

There was no logical explanation for this, not like revising complicated theories for the anatomy of a titan. This dug deeper in the heart. It can't be deciphered with the use of a science-oriented brain.

Hanji had no idea.

The ground suddenly trembled beneath her feet. A guttural, heart-wrenching roar fought its way up to through the soundproof walls. The pets of the Scouting Legion were occupied, and they didn't like it one bit.

Hanji jumped up, throwing a hasty 'I'll be back' to the dining hall, her boots thumping down the flight of stone-made stairs that led to the damp, stinky and claustrophobic dungeons. She made a mental note to think more into this matter later.

Levi pinched his nose, turning away from the doorway.

* * *

**A/N: So I decided to include a small excerpt of the current timeline, since I want to provide insight in their relationship now. Please review, and tell me your opinion. Do you still want an excerpt like this, or do you want the whole story to just talk about their trainee lives? Which is better? I want to hear your ideas... You have no idea how inspiring they are. **

**One more thing, is my writing of any difference compared to the first chapter? I'm still pretty inexperienced in the field of writing, and taking someone's quote - I'm a greenhorn in writing. I know my writing style tends to deviate sometimes. Do you think it does, in this chapter? **

**Flamers got to be haters. None of that, please. **


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: No. Just no.

Titanic Development is not dead. Let's move on, and I'm (guilty is charged) sorry for the more than one month update. I've gotten worse.

* * *

_Past_

Her leg muscles were on fire, scorching inside out and traversing to various parts of her body. The straps of her gear tightened with every movement she made, and she knew that angry red lines would be there to stay for quite some time. Her midriff was aching and her feet tendons were stretched to their maximum capacity; it felt like she was abusing a broken spring set deep in her heels.

There was no time to lament on trivial discomforts like these, however. Hanji was trying her hardest to catch up with the fifteen-meter class type regular titan up ahead; and even as the gas sputtered behind her, the reels' screams shrill in her ears, the titan had no trouble outrunning her 3DMG. If she kept at this speed, her gas tanks would empty out soon.

After dodging a near danger of a swooping tree branch flying her way, Hanji eventually slowed down, the steady thrum of her heartbeat sounding abnormally loud in the relatively peaceful greenery surrounding her. The titan hadn't noticed her yet; did that count for a good thing, she didn't know.

Making some calculations in her mind and looking over the green-brown blur of her location, Hanji could see a plan setting in place. Her risky strategy just might land her this prey. One prey. But then she'll reach her even count of twenty five. The odds of success was about forty percent… she wasn't sure. Her mind was dizzy in the rush of the tag game she was playing with this gigantic opponent and it hurt to think further.

Hanji swerved sharply to the left, narrowly barreling straight into the spindly arms of a wilted willow. She huffed, took a deep lungful of oxygen,

"OVER HERE! I'M RIGHT HERE!" She hollered out with what was worth of her low-pitched voice. "YOU HEAR ME? YOU GREEDY BASTARD?!"

She'd read from old books, saying that whatever shouts you make directed to titans, interestingly, all they hear and receive in their hearing were a bunch of static. They won't be able to make out words and sentences. They couldn't comprehend the human language.

The fifteen-meter type stiffened, and in a slow, blinding moment, turned to the source of sound that was Hanji. She swallowed through a thick lump in her throat, gripping the hilts of her blades until her knuckles grew white. No matter how long she was used to it, the intensity of a titan's stare, or in this case, the leering, could still send you spiraling down into your worst nightmare, freezing up your insides and literally forcing you to relive the bone-chilling terror of the realization that this species, this seemingly God-sent species, born to dominate humans, would traipse around Earth for a long, long time, while humanity would die out year by year.

In the end, titans ruled and there was nothing much they could do about it, aside from assembling special squads to embark on a massacre expedition.

Hanji remembered the time where she saw a scout being torn apart by a group of five regular types. They had those simpering smiles, and if they could laugh, they would've, she knew. A lump formed in her throat, the memory jolting some screws loose in her head. Limbs and torso dismembered, before that, the scout trembling on the brink of his demise-

Twenty five titans did not serve humanity any justice in the slightest.

Hanji blinked, saw the flash of a fleshy palm, and leaped forward with fervor, running along the length of its forearm and aiming for the base area of its neck. The reddish-bronze crust on her blade met another crimson spray, and the display was revolting. The titan swayed unsteadily as she rode its neck for leverage, a clean, deep cut right on the perfect center. Before it landed, she made sure to hoist herself up to a tree.

She'd finished, met her lucky number twenty five. This time, she wasn't groveling on the forest ground like a pitiful idiot, like last night…

If little, she'd proven her value as a scout. She fired her flare, gratified that she'd finished her share of work without much difficulties.

It was time to pick a different location. She'd already brought down most of the titans here. Most of the scouts were scattered randomly around the perimeter of the forest, and she was happy that her targets were mostly regular seven meter to fifteen meter class types. An Aberrant or Deviant could advance on her and if she's being honest with herself, she wouldn't be able to cut them down as easily.

The dark shadows in the tree line beckoned, and Hanji raced into its cool embrace, drunk on triumph and the relief of being alive. She had spare time, and she could exceed the number limit if she so wished.

A twig snapped in the quiet of the forest. Pattering movements reverberated the branches, the ground, everywhere. Her senses were heightened, although she couldn't exactly pinpoint the source of those sounds. Something was running.

With a sudden chill, she realized she wasn't alone. She got the feeling that she was being watched. Hanji let her eyes wander casually, as if she was simply searching for another titan looming behind those black-looking branches.

Nothing. But she was quite sure of it. Had her instincts ran astray during the last kill? The disturbing sounds receded, gradually dying out.

It wasn't quite safe for her to sheathe her blades yet. Be it a scout or a titan, she needed her weapons to defend herself, just in case.

The idea of having a scout targeting their own comrades sounded sickening merely by thinking of it, since disagreements between one another were usually forgotten when you're out in excursions, killing this and that. No one had the time to bring up a sore subject, not when you have titans humoring you.

As she headed deeper into the forest, muted cries of distress were evident on all four sides. She wasn't overthinking things this time, not having false illusions of footsteps conjured randomly in her mind. Scouts were having their troubles to face while she was, to some extent, looking for more targets to apprehend. The green flares hadn't been fired yet, but…

She should go help them. Her squad leader had always yapped about team performance and helping out those in times of need, and now she was behaving like a coward. Talk about a selfish need to fulfill personal ideals and getting showered with praise from the Commander.

She really should go help.

Something exploded. A black line shot up into the air, a thin but undeniable dark wisp evident in the blue sky. This was a black flare. This meant danger and Deviants.

She swallowed through the sizable lump in her throat. Not a coward, not a coward… clearly, she was thinking like one.

Biting her lip, Hanji changed paths, hurried to the nearest spot, the clamor of blades and reels and curses getting louder. She would regret this decision soon.

Levi, the unprecedented genius of all trainees, who bested several veterans by a long shot, had fallen off his perch, unnaturally uncharacteristic of him to do so, even if he passed it off as an accident.

He knew he was stupid to believe that hunting titans in the plains was easy. Stupidly following his squad leader's instructions like a meek dog. So damn stupid. There would be no way to undo his actions, because he was stuck. He'd fallen off, a note-worthy blunder, stupid one he'd committed, and now his reels were tangled with his feet. The sharpness of the malleable wires cut into his knees, unprotected by his leather boots. This one tree, barely reaching the height of a twenty-meter class type, was dangling him midair, and if that wasn't enough, the wind made him sway like one of those voodoo dolls hung on a wooden staff-

He cursed for about the fifth time. The blood was rushing into his head and the reels were strong enough to support his body weight so that he wouldn't fall. In about five minutes, he would know what to do and how to get out of this messy situation.

A titan surfaced in Levi's upside-down view. Another stupid oaf hoping to get its tiny hands on him. He didn't understand how titans could track a human in trouble so accurately, but he had to fix his own crap for now than to ponder the question.

His pistons were not working, and the titan was coming. Growling, Levi began swinging himself like a pendulum, and as the swings grew higher, he reached out to grab the tree branch, the one he was roosting on earlier. With a successful swish, he righted his balance and deftly undid the knots of the reels. The pistons weren't working, and he fiddled with the inner mechanisms for a short while, coiling some springs and jerking some screws into place, letting the titan close in for another five yards.

He tested the hooks again. Worked.

They didn't call him a genius for nothing.

The titan, confirmed a fourteen-meter class, lumbered forward in an achingly slow manner that Levi despised. He wasn't one to wait, so he shot his hooks into the titan's shoulder. He jumped off the branch and tugged the wires upwards, saving them from the titan's ridiculously short arms, which were flailing about in a futile attempt to wave off the hold Levi had on him. The uprising pressure of wind whipped his bangs, getting the inky strands temporarily out of his way. He could see as sharp and clear as a hawk the vulnerable spot this titan wasn't even aware of. Airborne, he pulled the wires hard and the titan stumbled. He landed himself square on the neck. Blades up.

And the rest was history.

He reeled himself back to the tree and didn't even spare the titan a glance. The mild adrenaline or whatever he'd felt earlier at his most recent kill, had vanished the second his feet met the tree branch, feeling nothing but sturdy wood beneath his short frame. The tree shook a little when the titan toppled over heavily onto the ground.

Some specks of blood dotted his cloak, nothing a good scrubbing couldn't get rid of. Levi sheathed his blades and made his way to his horse. The animal wasn't affected in the least, affectionately ducking into Levi's pockets for snacks.

Levi trained his ears for sounds that might hint at the arrival of more titans. There were more in the forest, but he was done with his twenty five. Exceeded the number, even. A green flare should have been fired, signaling that their time was over and they had to meet up.

"So troublesome," he muttered, steering his horse away from the rotting flesh. He untied his cravat and pressed the cloth to his nose, ignoring the rancid scent of rust and decay the titan corpse emitted.

A _ping!_ in the air made him look up. Ribbons of black smoke snaked skywards, then evaporated as quickly as it was dispersed. He winced when the aftereffects of shooting the black flare finally caught up to him. His hearing disappeared momentarily, a long, painful high-pitched scream indenting his mind and tearing his brain tissues apart. The shooter must be near. So near that he might've been deafened.

Damn. Black flares were for emergencies. And they were only used when deviant-type titans emerged and lunged in to mess with the Legion's formations. What was this about, then, with the black flare being fired? A new type of titan? Some clumsy trainee scout having misplaced his fingers, perhaps?

Either way, he had to find out what had happened.

The roar of a rabid titan exploded, shrill and unpleasant. He was getting nearer to the destination, and his stomach churned with an unexpected dread. He withdrew his blades, the steel ends scratching against each other as he vented out his confusion and slight - very slight - fear. This animalistic cry was unlike any titan roar he'd heard previously. His senses warned him to be alert, more so than the routinely clash with regular types.

The trainee, or veteran, might be dead by now. He couldn't save their lives, he'd learned, more than preventing them from dying out.

The red streaks on the branches and trunks grabbed his attention. He pulled on the reins harshly and urged his horse to a tree, dipping his index finger on the redness. The blood came away easily, fresh.

It was human blood. The trail stretched into oblivion, going northwards. A human scream punched through the humidity, startling him.

Fortunately for him, a girl was also heading into the same direction.

* * *

_Present_

In the murky darkness of the dungeon, two titans glowered at the only scout standing before them, chains rattling with their effort of trying to wrench free from their imprisonment. Their skins were punctured with still-healing wounds, but if you looked closer, you would see the steam and the bloodied flesh piecing together, regenerating.

This was another notable trait to take note of. Even without sunlight, the titans could actually regenerate themselves…?

Hanji scribbled furiously across her notepad, unaffected by the muted snarls emerging from Bean's throat. She was tired, she was cranky, and she longed to abandon her post as Sandman here and go off to bed. It wasn't like the titans would fall asleep on their own, and just a few minutes ago, she'd pulled out splinters for them. Their pain was still evident in Bean's moving lips, as if the male titan was actually mumbling a hurried prayer for God to take the pain away. Sonny, on the contrary, had an omnipresent smile on his face, staring at Hanji in an indecent way that made her want to slap and lecture him about treating a woman with more respect.

While she made bullet points below the row of her chicken scratch handwriting, Bean gave a mournful howl that scared her, shaking the very castle walls that encased this prison cell underground. If he kept this racket up, the other scouts would surely wake up.

"Settle down, Bean. I'll be keeping tabs- er, I'll watch over you two tonight," Hanji waved a disapproving hand before the seven-meter class type, "so please, go to sleep right now and let me get back to my paperwork. Levi will be mad at me… Please!"

Bean tried to crank his head to look at her – at least that was what Hanji would like to assume – but his movements were heavily reduced by the steel chains around his neck. Something snapped.

"Oh, you stupid, stupid titan-" Hanji almost yelled, flustered. "Why're you so bloody stubborn?" She kept saying, making slight adjustments on the titan's chains, keeping a healthy distance away from his jaws. The regeneration of his broken bone - she wasn't sure which part, since she didn't want to risk touching him at this hour - would be taking place soon, and Hanji wasn't very worried about that. Satisfied, she looked to Sonny, half-afraid that he might also do something equally as dumb. Sonny's glassy eyes swiveled at her innocently, and she sighed, taking a step back.

Knowing that they didn't harbor any intentions of falling asleep soon, Hanji crossed her legs and sat down, on the dirty, bloodstained floor where Levi would cringe to even stand on. This was going to be one long wait.

The things she'd do for the sake of her pets; she was a goddamned martyr, not a scientist. She could wait for one whole hour just for Bean to close his eyes and drift off to dreamland.

Hanji grasped at the cold stone walls for support. The castle had poor insulation, and the chilliness seeped in through her fingers, making her shiver.

When she reached the landing, she lingered by the doorway, waging an internal battle with fatigue. Her eyelids weighed a ton, and while she couldn't wait to snuggle in the warmth of her own bed, having paperwork to finish up was taking a severe toll on her ability to stay awake. She had never been one for procrastination, but the paperwork really seemed to have quintupled after the addition of more trainees in the Scouting Legion… or maybe it was just her fascination with Sonny and Bean that distracted her from working. After all, if Levi was able to finish his work sooner, why couldn't she?

Levi was hunched over, the becoming picture barring nothing but the undying deliberation of a seasoned soldier. An attack on paperwork, not titans, for once.

Shit, there was the rocky terrain of their relationship all over again. How could that have slipped her mind?

There was no better time than to confront him now, because the nosiest people you could ever imagine were absent, and there were only the two of them, working alongside each other and finishing reports. Therefore it was a mystery, why Hanji was tongue-tied all of a sudden. How should she start, exactly? She longed to start the 'smooth talk' with her usual direct manner of speaking by stating the problem firsthand, but instinct told her that she should be wary of hidden traps when it came to personal drama like this. She didn't have a clue what Levi was thinking.

Hanji backtracked, deciding to shelve this matter in her head for some more time. Some things were better off left undiscussed. Levi was definitely sleepy, and so was she, which made it not quite a suitable time to… talk.

Taking a seat opposite from him – sitting beside him was not a good idea – she knitted her fingers together gingerly, running imaginary dialogue that were mostly verbal lashings lobbed back and forth in her head, before she remembered the papers and quickly picked up a pen to start working.

Say,_ if_ they started an argument that wouldn't have any impact on them in any way, who would win? Her guilt swelled into thick prominence, and her eloquence deteriorated for the rest of the night.

_- Morning Break - _

The crisp air of the dry morning made its mark on Hanji, her lips chapped and her skin growing itchier and flakier as she sat there on the stone steps, her bottom feeling sore and her face blank. She wasn't quite up to breakfast in the dining hall today, because the noise just jumbled up her thoughts more. She bit deep into the red flesh of the apple in her palms, savoring the tart sweetness skidding across her tongue and the teeth-numbing coldness.

Munching, she contemplated the dreary landscape of the barren trees and overall dead-looking plant life before her. Winter was approaching and she didn't like it at all. It was always gloomy during winter, and although the Christmas spirit was insanely high by average standards – mostly since the scouts had nothing else to look forward to in the Legion besides killing titans day after day. She heard a loud squeal issuing from the dining hall. A girl. Maybe one of the trainees who'd recently enlisted. Although they graduated in the same group with Eren, they didn't strike her as an equally passionate lot who'd enlisted. They were rowdy, but they weren't too happy.

Then again, who'd be happy about being enlisted into a group of weirdos and oddballs? Whenever Hanji lurked close, they'd shy away like skittish colts. Not that the researcher minded so much; she was seasoned to this type of treatment. They didn't mean to be rude, she knew, but they sure wouldn't want to stay within her radar for some time before they got used to the Scouting Legion themselves. Eren was already warmed up to Levi's Special Operations Squad, and vice versa. A decent kid, if not one with an excess bloodlust, that Eren. His two friends, Mikasa Ackerman and Armin Arlert – Hanji remembered because she'd seen them during Eren's trial – were quick to adapt as well. Out of all the trainees who'd entered the Legion, they looked very promising.

She'd wanted to talk to Eren this morning, hoping to sneak in a few questions about his daily physical activities and weekly diet; but then Auruo and Erd managed to pull him away, and the boy was none too willing to part with her. Yeah, of course he freaked out. She was one special oddball who stood out in the Legion and she was aware of it. Most people beyond the Legion would avoid her. How could they possibly want to spend time with a titan-lover?

No thanks.

And in reality, she didn't love titans. She was interested in them.

She liked Eren, but that couldn't count.

The few scouts who tolerated and even found her oddball qualities amusing, to say the most, were Levi, Mike, Irvin, Levi's Special Ops Squad, Nanaba and some veteran scouts whose names she didn't bother to learn. She will allow the unnamed trainees some time to insinuate themselves into the Legion's lifestyle. They might develop a few quirks of their own.

She still had the trainee records she had to arrange, due by the following day on Irvin's desk. Those reports would give her a headache. The records were full of names she didn't want to learn. Nameless, nameless and nameless. Embarrassing herself in front of them by calling out a person out with the wrong name would be a catastrophe!

She couldn't be too precise in remembering new names every day. Names would be a hindrance because Hanji had not yet mastered the skill of seeing-and-forgetting, one of Levi's most pronounced mental savvies. Ice-breaking and intro session the first day, and maybe a funeral the next. Maybe there won't be one because the body would've been swimming among a titan's digestive fluids. Levi rarely remembered names and new faces were often a blur to him, he'd told her once.

Indeed, she was envious. How he could sift through human emotions so easily like a mechanized machine. She wondered how he'd react if she, or Irvin, or Mike, or the rest of the Special Ops Squad, died. Would he shed tears then for his fallen comrades? Would he feel some form of regret that would ache her own heart when or bigger if her reliable squad members lay bloody and battered in front of her eyes? He was human; he wasn't without sentiments.

"Yo, Zoe." A familiar voice joined her scurrying thoughts, and the figure sat down beside her.

Mike willfully maintained distance between them, putting a cinnamon muffin in the middle of the space. Hanji glanced at him, out of curiosity. His abnormally pale eyes were bracketed with eye bags and wrinkles, and you couldn't guess out his age that easily.

"Don't call me that," she replied indignantly. "Do I really look this lonely sitting here, when I'm not actually with them?" She joked, nodding in the direction of the dining hall, making a failed swipe for the muffin. Mike whisked it out of her grasp in the nick of time.

He tore the wrapper off, shaking crumbs to the ground. "Kinda, yeah."

What followed was a comfortable silence.

"Do you notice any difference? I mean, in us? In the Legion?" Hanji blurted out without preamble, trying to convey the hidden meaning behind her question.

Mike took his time to answer, chewing and rubbing his crumb-infested fingers on his white breeches. He was slow, usually, but the sniffer was surprisingly insightful in moments like this, sitting side by side, eating an apple or a muffin. Waiting for time to drip slowly until a squad leader came to pass them a message.

"Hm. You and Levi?" He hit the nail straight on the head. Hanji waited, feeling short of breath all of a sudden.

"…I think you guys are okay. You're being the brilliant scientist Hanji Zoe and he's the same prickly corporal we've ever known," Mike drawled.

"I hope so," she muttered, looking at her boots forlornly.

"What are you talking about?" He tossed her a look of incredulity.

"No, never mind."

Another shriek resounded from the dining hall. Mike's mildly incredulous expression deepened tenfold.

"_Oh_. I see now," he smiled, almost feral. "You're worrying about _those _stuff, huh? Lemme tell you something: although you guys look okay on the surface," He broke off, leaving her hanging onto reluctant anticipation. It put her off, that exaggerated smile, making her feel as though her mind was lay exposed for him to read everything. She then wondered if this was how Sonny and Bean felt whenever she was fussing around them.

"I see sexual tension. Between you two."

Her face burned red and she grabbed his collar roughly, bringing his long face close to hers. "Don't say things you don't mean," she warned. "I'm having enough trouble over this already-"

"Who would think of joking in this type of situation, Zoe? I'm quite serious, you see," Mike held his hands up in mock surrender. "Either you face reality, or you pretend it doesn't exist, simple as that. Which is the coward's way out, you know."

She released him with a snort. "That's impossible."

"What is?"

"What you just said."

"Ah. Now you know? I thought that for some time already, ten years in fact-"

"Gah, shut up." Hanji stood up and walked away, crunching the damp mud under her boots. Not-so-subtly, Mike's smile widened for another mile.

Was she reading too much into the dynamics? She regretted consulting Mike, since even though he had a flair for seeing the obvious, his words served to only muddle her up more. Surely, nothing has changed. For neither the better nor the worst. Levi and Hanji are still buddies and they hang out together, they have their squabbles and they watch out for each other's backs – to some extent, Levi watches hers; he'd never rely on her during excursions, much of his personal reasons stemming wholly from her single habit of overreacting during battles. She liked observing titans, and she frequently got carried away.

All was well. She didn't desire for any changes, much less those of the more worrisome kind. She couldn't allow herself to be too attached. Levi must think the same on this. There was a fine line separating friendship and intimacy, of all things Mike had to bring up. His words swam languidly amidst her speculations, and she thought harder, willing that she was not treading on this line, and that this was a delusion she'd invoked out of nowhere.

Levi was innocently spared from this dilemma. Lucky for him, Hanji thought dryly.

* * *

A/N: Thanks for all who reviewed, followed and/or added this to your list of favorites, especially **Beccal47, KorosuKa, altair, Peachie-Trishie, sheepeater, miss u, CaciaCoon, silenceandscreams, KittyOboro-dono, sruoh, Guest, Shilo, may11101, EternityMusic4me, Chocolatecigarretes, solitarycloud, Guest, **another** Guest **(same person? Phew.)**, princess thieves of heart, AmaranthineImbalance, Latios381, sunny-baby-angel** and** alice59** for your encouragement and kind words.

And Louise didn't make an appearance in this chapter, huh? Fear not, chapter 4 will mostly be set in the past timeline, and I hope the current excerpts won't get canceled out. Louise will be featured, and maybe a handful of other OC's. But the spotlight will always be on Hanji, and/or Levi. They're my OTP, of course :)


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